Cultural Differences
by SsilverStreak
Summary: There are more than a few pitfalls when your Wizarding Partner is an alien. On both sides of the equation.
1. Chapter 1

"This is what your father was drinking the first time I stayed here, correct? I remember the smell." Without waiting for a response, Roshaun reached over and snagged the mug of dark liquid sitting in front of Dairine, ignoring the flash of snarly anger across their bond.

' _I swear, I will chuck you right back into Sol,'_ Dairine growled in his mind, only half awake and not yet willing to talk verbally.

Roshaun continued to ignore her temper. His partner was not a 'morning person', and had been getting less sleep than usual thanks to something she called 'midterms', whatever that was. Curiously, he sniffed at the mug, and found himself sighing at the rich smell coming from it.

A burst of electronic chatter at the edge of his partner bond that he recognized as Dairine having a quick conversation with Spot, then his partner smirked. _'Yeah, it's coffee. You should try it.'_

Roshaun raised an elegant brow warily. Nothing good could come of Dairine's expression, expectant and amused and just a little vicious, but he couldn't actually see how it could be a trap.

Carefully, he took a sip.

Which he promptly spat back out in a spray across the table as rich, hot bitterness hit his tongue. He slammed the mug down and glared at his best friend as she burst into laughter. "You tried to poison me!"

Dairine was still laughing too hard, so she had to respond mentally. _'Oh, I did not, you big baby. I even checked with Spot first to make sure there's nothing in coffee that would hurt you.'_

Still snickering, she used a small wizardry to clean the mess he made, then stole her mug back and took a long sip, staring at him in challenge the entire time. _'To be fair, coffee is an acquired taste.'_

"Your entire species is crazy," Roshaun grumbled, getting up to get some water to wash the taste out of his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, the Powers probably hadn't meant for Dairine to be using her wizard's manual-slash-friend-slash-pet for internet shopping, but there was no rule against it.

That she had found, anyways.

Not that she had looked all that hard.

Besides, Spot didn't mind, and he was far better at recommending things than the sites she was currently browsing.

Roshaun hadn't been able to completely explain everything about the Solstice Celebration, because a few things simply hadn't translated culturally, but from what Dairine had gathered, it was sort of like Christmas to the Wellakhit, without all of the religious bits. Feasts, visiting family, decorations for kilometers, gift-exchanging. However, gift-exchanges for the Solstice Celebration came in two parts. There was a private gift exchange, done between two people or very close family, and then public gift exchanges, done in front of large groups.

And the public gift exchange for Roshaun and his family was very public indeed.

She had been lucky in one respect, due to the differences in orbital period and daily rotation between Earth and Wellakh, the Solstice Celebration was falling during autumn in New York. Tracking down a hoodie big enough and baggy enough for Roshaun's overly tall, lanky frame had taken a little time, but with his love of t-shirts she was sure he'd be all over it. Neliad and Miril were a little harder to shop for, but she had managed to find private gifts that would work well enough.

It was the public gifts that were giving her trouble.

Well, Roshaun's anyways. Her dad and Nita were helping her put together a large, intricate potted succulent display as a sort of joint public gift from the three of them for Neliad and Miril. With their interests in adapting some Earth plants for use in the more arid areas of Wellakh's slag side, it was a gift important enough and rare enough to be given to the former King and Queen.

That just left Roshaun. And what could a teenage girl from the suburbs get the King of an entire planet that would be fancy enough to satisfy everyone that would be watching?

Dairine frowned and leaned back against her headboard, fiddling with the Sunstone resting against her collarbone. Her wrist still sometimes felt light from the emerald necklace turned bracelet that was no longer there, but Roshaun had taken to wearing it. "An exchange." He had called it.

Rare, rare…

Suddenly, she perked up and leaned over to idly poke Spot, who had been also out of ideas. "Hey, can you check and see if chocolate is safe for Wellakhit biology?" If so, that would be something easy for her to get that was also considered rare and expensive.

Spot hummed for a few seconds as he searched his Manual archives, then stopped. _'Chocolate has no adverse effects on Wellakhit biology-'_

"Yes!" Dairine smirked, pleased with herself.

 _'However, on Wellakh it is used among the dominant species as a potent aphrodesiac.'_

"Wait, what?" Dairine had thought Carmela had been kidding when she said some alien species used it in that way.

 _'So, if you were to give that as a public gift to Roshaun…'_

Dairine's face went as red as her hair as ALL of the implications hit her. Giving a potent aphrodisiac to the King, who was also her best friend and wizarding partner. And given the fact that rumors were constantly circling about how close they were, the exchange of necklace and torq, how closely she had been accepted into the royal family…

Dairine squeaked and covered her lower mouth, sending to Spot, _'New plan! Put chocolate on the NEVER, EVER GIVE TO ROSHAUN list.'_

At least that was one bullet dodged, even if she was no closer to finding a gift.


	3. Chapter 3

Roshaun had most certainly _not_ , as Dairine called it, 'ditched' a meeting to spend the afternoon with his partner at the Crossings.

It was partner bonding, was all.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

Besides, watching Dairine gush over the new technology coming out was far more entertaining than listening to his financial advisers drone on for several hours.

It wasn't the assassinations that his father had wanted to avoid when he passed on the title, Roshaun knew now. It was the ever-present paperwork and meetings.

Roshaun lightly bit the inside of his cheek and carefully muted his thoughts as Dairine made a soft squeak in the back of her throat before darting towards a stand of the new light-swords coming out. They hadn't been partners for all that long, but he knew well enough to not comment on the fact that she was adorable when she did that unless he wanted an argument on his hands.

… Granted, that didn't stop him from doing it when he felt like needling her.

Look, it wasn't his fault that he enjoyed bickering with her so much. It was refreshing to have someone to do that with.

Spot gave a small mechanical sound from where he was resting in Roshaun's arms, nominally to avoid being stepped on by any of the other Crossings patrons, but privately he suspected that the computer-Manual hybrid was just being lazy. Roshaun looked down just as Spot extended a stalked eye to regard Dairine, speaking aloud for both of their benefits.

"Nita says that she and Kit are here, and will meet you by the food court closest to the Stationmaster's kiosk. She adds that she will do her best to prevent Kit from eating all of the blue food while they wait."

Roshaun frowned, doing a rough mental calculation in his head. "That is several kilometers away."

Dairine shrugged. "Yeah. Better get going then. Spot, let Nita know we're on our way, but we'll be a little bit."

Roshaun shot Dairine a concerned look as she broke into a trot, then reconsidered. Better to get started now, besides, Dairine had been the one doing most of the running around up until now. Hopefully she wasn't too tired already.

Ten minutes later, Roshaun was regretting this. He was having to jog along to keep up with his smaller partner, which _wasn't fair_ considering that her legs were so much shorter than his. He was already starting to tire and slow, despite outpacing her in the beginning, while Dairine still looked entirely comfortable.

Another five minutes, and Roshaun groaned as he stopped and stumbled over to plop onto a bench in a rest area, gasping for breath. He ignored the flash of worry across their partner bond, and felt more than saw Dairine sit down beside him.

"Are you okay?"

Roshaun was too busy sucking air into his lungs, so he resorted to speaking over their bond. ' _I don't understand how you are! Your legs are shorter than mine, how did I get tired before you did?'_

Dairine paused, biting her lower lip like she did sometimes when deep in thought, then brightened. ' _Quick question. How did ancient Wellakhit hunt prey?'_

Roshaun blinked, turning to regard her warily. ' _What?'_

' _Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this.'_

He hesitated, then mentally shrugged. ' _Ancient Wellakhit would wait in trees for prey to pass underneath, then drop down and attack with teeth and rudimentary tools. Why?'_

Dairine nodded in satisfaction. ' _That explains it. Terrans evolved to be persistence hunters. We're not that fast, but we just kept going after prey at a steady pace until they basically dropped from exhaustion.'_

Roshaun had caught his breath enough to talk, although his legs were still hating him. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Some tribes still do it. A Terran in decent shape can run for hours without stopping."

" _Hours?!"_

Dairine nodded. "It makes sense that you can't keep up, Wellakhit evolved from ambush predators." She paused, then blinked. "Wait, teeth?"

"Yes?" Shrugging, Roshaun opened his mouth wide, and a few seconds later felt a curious finger prod at one of his fangs. Roshaun knew personally that they were impressive, a full three centimeters in length.

"Oh my gosh you guys actually have fangs. That is _awesome._ "

"You mean you don't?" He closed his mouth to regard his partner curiously.

"Nothing like yours. See?" It was Roshaun's turn to study Dairine's teeth, and yes, her eyeteeth could barely pass for fangs at all, like a child who still had their milk teeth.

"Those are _adorable._ "

"They are _not."_ Dairine snorted and crossed her arms. She paused, and Roshaun's only warning was a sudden wave of mirth across their bond before she burst out laughing.

"What now?"

"Oh my gosh, Wellakhit are what happen when humanoids try to cat."

"… What," Roshaun said flatly.

"There's an animal, on earth." A sudden image of a spotted quadrupedal creature that looked like a larger, bulkier version of the earth Worldgating team members popped up in his head. "It's called a leopard. They hunt exactly like how Wellakhit would, ambushing prey from trees. They're big cats, so therefore, Wellakhit are what happens when humanoids try to cat."

Roshaun gave her a dry look. "And yet we're not the crazy ones who will chase prey for literal hours."

"Hey, I'm not the one who had to stop for a break after fifteen minutes."

The argument took them a full half an hour, but by then Roshaun was ready to get walking again.

Provided Dairine didn't start jogging again, anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

Roshaun was acting strange. Well, stranger than usual.

Dairine was already in a cranky mood after dealing with some jerk customers while helping out at her Dad's shop before coming to Wellakh, and now this?

The worst part was that Roshaun wasn't _saying_ anything. He kept just _looking_ at her, twitching slightly, then turning away with a low rumble of a growl. Dairine hadn't even known Wellakhit _could_ growl. Few human throats could have reproduced that bone-deep rumble that was probably more at home coming from a lion.

Their planned discussion on some of the intricacies of solar storms was going about as well as you would expect.

After the fifth time in less than that many minutes (she counted), Dairine stood up and slammed her hands down on the low (to Wellakhit) table they were sitting at. She probably shouldn't have taken such satisfaction in making Roshaun jump, but her nerves were frayed as it was and she was _done_ with this shit.

"Okay, _what_ is wrong?! If you have a problem, spit it out instead of sulking over it!"

"Kings do not sulk," Roshaun grumbled, crossing his arms and clearly getting ready to work himself into a fine example of the term.

Dairine let a flash of irritation cross their bond, then winced as he returned it twofold. This wasn't just because of their little spat, he wouldn't be this worked up so quickly. Something else was going on here.

She took a deep breath, a technique that Miril had taught her to calm her temper, then leveled a steady glare at Roshaun. "Seriously, what is wrong?"

He grimaced but uncrossed his arms. "You _smell_ wrong."

Dairine was just bristling and getting ready to pick a really good fight because _she did not smell_ when Roshaun continued, words a little rushed to get them out before the brewing storm spilling over their bond broke loose. "You don't… I… this is hard to put into words, because a lot of this is… instinctual, for Wellakhit. Normally, individuals smell of their…" The Speech word he used then held all sorts of connotations, _family-friend-pack_ , so Dairine took it to mean 'those close to you' "… and normally you smell of your father, and sister, and… myself and my parents. But today you don't. You smell of… a strange human."

Unbidden, a memory flashed to the forefront of Dairine's mind, an encounter a few minutes before her 'shift' had ended, with a jerk customer who had not only demanded a discount, but then tried to wheedle her number out of her. He _had_ put his hand on her shoulder, but Dairine's Dad had stepped in before a police report had to be filed and the guy's spine had to be removed from where the sun didn't shine.

A low growl, deep enough to vibrate the table, let Dairine know that Roshaun had caught the memory over their bond. Well, at least they knew the source of the problem now.

"So, your instincts are out of whack because a customer got handsy earlier. How do we fix it so we can get back to work?"

"The fastest and most effective way would be scenting. Otherwise, you could go and bathe, or we could separate until the scent fades."

"Look, we have a lot of work to get through, so just do the scenting thing so that we can get done."

As Roshaun arched an elegant brow and reached for her wrist, Dairine mused that she should probably get a handle on her big mouth before it got her into trouble. And maybe learn to ask better follow-up questions.

He was gentle as he lifted her wrist up to his face, using his hand to brace it as he ducked his head to stroke his jawline over the sensitive skin beneath her palm. He made one pass on one side, then turned his head to make a second pass with the other. Her wrist felt slightly cool when he finished and dropped it, but she wasn't sure whether that was from the sudden lack of his body heat or possibly something left behind from… scent glands, maybe?

Dairine was tempted to resist when Roshaun reached for her other wrist, but she wasn't known for backing down and she wasn't about to start now. Another two passes, one on each side of his jawline, and he let her go.

Any hope that he was done was quickly dashed when he cupped the nape of her neck with one long-fingered hand, ducking his head low to stroke his jaw over the base of her neck, just above where the Sunstone's torq rested. One side, then the other, then back again, and Dairine was sure she would be as red as her hair by the time he finished.

And _of course_ it took him longer to do her neck.

When Roshaun finally pulled back, Dairine knew there was no point in trying to control her blush, but she was able to school her expression into a slightly irritated one.

In other words, her default.

"Better?" she asked dryly.

"Yes," Roshaun said, tension leeching out of him as he settled back into his seat.

"Good. Now, about the affects of solar storms on planets outside the frost line…"

And if they couldn't meet each other's eyes for the next fifteen minutes, neither was stupid enough to comment on it.


	5. Chapter 5

Only the fact that he instinctively equated the Callahan household with safety kept Roshaun from taking Kit's head off when he was ambushed as soon as he appeared in the stand of trees at the edge of the property.

"You don't want to go in there. Trust me," Kit said as he grabbed Roshaun's arm before the spell circle had even faded.

Roshaun raised an elegant brow in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. It had been a long day of meetings, meetings, and more meetings, and he had been looking forward to submerging himself in his pack-mate's scent and having a willing ear to rant to while he unwound. "And why not?"

"Check your bond," Kit said with a wry grin, as if the shorter male was amused at some joke that Roshaun wasn't even aware had been told.

Annoyance was outweighing confusion at the moment, but Kit rarely did things without a reason, Roshaun knew that much. With a sigh, he probed along his connection to Dairine.

He jerked slightly, eyes opening wide at the _pain-anger-upset-tense_ that flooded back along their bond. It was the mental and emotional equivalent of a wounded animal just waiting to lash out at anyone that disturbed it.

"She's not injured, before you panic," Kit said, halting Roshaun just as he began to stride forward, determination on his face to take revenge on whoever had _dared_ to harm his partner. "She's just on her period. Neets is on hers too, and I know she and her sister are on the same cycle because she told me, and I didn't think you'd want to walk into that without some warning. And a peace offering."

Roshaun stared at Kit for a long moment, trying to get his thoughts in order and finally settling on "What's a period?"

"… Ho boy," Kit muttered under his breath. "Time of the month? Visit from Aunt Flo? Cycle? Dairine hasn't explained anything related to any of that?"

"No, no she hasn't. Is it something dangerous?"

"Only to the people around her. Look, I was going to make a store run for Neets anyways, you can come along and get some stuff for Dairine, and I'll try to explain things as we go."

Roshaun hesitated, but a flash of irritation along his bond with Dairine decided him. He had no desire to incur her wrath at the moment, and perhaps Kit could shed some light on what was going on. "Very well. You spoke of peace offerings, I'm assuming to improve her mood. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, chocolate is usually a good start."

Kit went several steps before realizing that he was suddenly short one planetary king. He paused and looked behind him, only to find that Roshaun was standing stock still and blushing, of all things.

After a moment to think over what could have caused such a reaction, he gave an amused grin. "I'm assuming chocolate does something very different to Wellakhit than it does to humans."

"I would certainly hope so," Roshaun squeaked before clearing his throat and attempting to regain his dignity.

"Just to clarify, humans just think it's delicious. It's something that, especially if you get the good stuff, makes a good peace offering in situations like this. I know Neets craves it when she's on her period or about to be, I'm not sure about Dairine." Kit tilted his head slightly. "What does it do to you guys?"

"I would rather not talk about it," Roshaun said stiffly, knowing very well that Kit would probably look it up in his manual later. At least the knowledge that he would most likely not be dealing with a very amorous Dairine as a result of a gift served as a sharp relief.

He ignored the small stab of disappointment that came with it.

"Fair enough." Kit would definitely be looking it up later, Roshaun knew it. "Anyways, while we walk I can fill you in on what's going on with Neets and Dairine."

"That would be… appreciated," Roshaun answered, silently grateful for the walk as a chance to compose himself. It took a mere trigger word in the Speech, and the slight disguise spell that he had become well-practiced in settled over him.

"Okay, so a period is-"

"You're _kidding."_

"Nope." Kit looked _entirely_ too pleased with himself at the expression on Roshaun's face.

"And this doesn't hurt them?!"

"Oh, it hurts. How much it does varies from person to person. I know Neets gets some pretty rough cramps, and she's said that Dairine's are even worse."

Roshaun couldn't find words for a long moment, mind numb over the revelation. Finally, he blurted out the only thing that broke through. "How has your species _survived_?!"

Kit burst out laughing even as he tossed a few chocolate bars into the basket. Roshaun tried not to flinch away from them, and Kit pretended not to notice.

"Anyways, it's painful and messy and leaves them pretty cranky, which is completely understandable. And that is also why we're doing this store run for them." A couple aisles over, Kit tossed a box of something that Roshaun didn't catch the name of into the basket. "You want some ice cream?"

"What's ice cream?"

"It's a frozen treat. Don't worry, we can get you one without chocolate."

"I suppose it cannot hurt to try it, then."

"Awesome." A couple aisles further down, Kit opened up the door to what was clearly a refrigerated food storage unit and began pulling out small cartons of what Roshaun guessed was ice cream. "Do you like strawberries?"

"Yes." During his first visit, Roshaun had become acquainted with the small fruits one evening as an accompaniment to that night's meal.

"Strawberry it is." A fourth carton joined the other three in the basket. "And that should do it. Let me just pay for this and we can take a transport spell back, before the ice cream melts."

"Why not just use a spell to keep it cold?"

"Because I don't want to walk back," Kit replied with a shrug and a grin.

Honestly, Roshaun wasn't going to argue that point. After a long day of meeting after meeting and training with his father, and then the walk to the store, his own legs were hinting strongly that it was past time for him to get some rest. Kit, annoyingly, looked no worse for wear.

Stupid humans and their stupid crazy stamina.

It took more time to find a quiet, secluded spot for the transport spell than it did to cast the spell itself, but it still wasn't long before Roshaun once again found himself standing in the patch of trees at the back of the Callahan property.

Before they went inside, Kit took both bags and quickly sorted items between them before handing one back to Roshaun. "Here. Offer this before you do anything else and she probably won't kill you."

Really, Roshaun would have assumed that the shorter male was joking, but they both knew Dairine too well.

At this point Roshaun was more than a little worried about what he was getting himself into, but there was no way he was about to show it, or back down.

At least she didn't have the power levels to toss him into the sun on a whim anymore.

Okay, he knew she wouldn't _actually_ do that, she was too fond of him, but the waves of irritation rolling down their bond even as he headed up the stairs to her bedroom had him on edge.

He paused at the first door as Kit continued past him to Nita's room, and sent a quiet _'May I come in?'_ along their connection. _'I brought things that Kit assured me would help.'_

A pause, then a tentative _'Is ice cream and-or chocolate one of those things?'_

' _Both, actually.'_

Another pause, this one clearly mulling it over, then a sense of resignation, like a full-body sigh, washed over him. _'Alright, you can come in.'_

Roshaun tamped down his own relief as he opened the door, though he did make sure to hold up the shopping bag in front of him like a shield.

Look, he was brave, not stupid.

Dairine gave him half a baleful look from where she was sprawled on her front, face half-buried in one of her pillows. His partner looked more disheveled than normal, fiery hair mussed and clothes wrinkled, as if she had been tossing and turning. A cord ran from the edge of something square-looking that was trapped under her lower abdomen, and the control partway down the cord was lit up, indicating that it was in use.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing slightly to the spot on the small bed beside Dairine. She grumbled a little, but he could tell it was mostly for show as she sat up, dragging the small rectangle on the end of the cord with her as she rearranged herself so that she was sitting back against the pillows on her bed.

One trait that humans and Wellakhit happily seemed to share was a need for physical contact. As soon as Roshaun had managed to get onto a bed that really was far too small for someone of his size, plus another person, Dairine tucked herself up under his arm and made grabby motions for the bag. He handed it over, and while she began digging through it he retrieved the brush from her bedside table and began doing what he could to put her hair to rights.

By the time the brush was running freely through the human's thick red hair, Dairine had already retrieved the carton labeled 'rocky road' and a spoon and was making a concerted effort to demolish the dark brown contents. From the empty box and the pill bottle that had been returned to the bag, she had already taken the painkillers, so Roshaun freed his own carton of ice cream and a spoon.

After a bite, Roshaun silently concluded that ice cream was similar to, but not exactly like, a frozen treat his own people made from the juice of a fruit that grew in the temperate regions of the non-slag side of Wellakh. The earth version was quite enjoyable, he decided, being rather smoother and richer than the version he was used to.

Halfway through his ice cream, a soft increase of the weight against his side and a gentle fuzziness along the bond with his partner indicated that Dairine had fallen asleep. Carefully, he took the partially-eaten ice cream away from her, and with a small spell sent both it and his own to the frozen food storage downstairs.

Roshaun set the bag aside, then worked to rearrange the pillows into something more comfortable to lean back against. He knew that Dairine was a heavy sleeper from past experience, and indeed she didn't wake up as he settled in for what would probably be a few hours of being in the same spot. Indeed, it wasn't long before the human was curled into his side, using him as an impromptu pillow.

Honestly, most days Roshaun would rather have 'makes a comfortable pillow' over 'king' on his list of qualifications.

With a sigh, he pulled out his connection to the Aethers and began to retrieve some of the paperwork he had stored there. May as well get a head start on things that were due soon.

As he relaxed and got into the rhythm of filling things out, a low rumble in his chest began. The shock of it startled the purr right out of him, and he glanced down at Dairine, who still hadn't woken.

Huh. So it was like that, then.

Roshaun closed his eyes and sighed, then went back to his paperwork. This time, when the soft rumble of a purr kicked up, he didn't bother to fight it.

Really, the only shame was that Dairine wasn't awake to return it.


End file.
